A Meal for Eight for $1

Homemade noodles

This is my mom’s homemade noodle recipe. She grew up during the Great Depression and learned how to really stretch resources. Take the leftover chicken or turkey carcass and put it in a stock pot, crock pot or pan big enough that you can cover the bones with water. Bring to a boil and the simmer for a couple of hours. Remove the bones, let them cool a bit and then remove any additional meat from the bones and add it back to the stock. This is the stock that you will be using for the noodles. I am estimating it will make about 6 cups of stock for a chicken, more for a turkey but honestly, I never measure the water and it always turns out great.

Homemade Noodles

Ingredients

Instructions

Mix flour and salt.

Add milk and beaten eggs.

Stir together to form a dough.

Roll very thin on floured surface.

Cut into thin strips.

Drop in boiling broth and boil about 10 minutes.

This was my first attempt to make the noodles with whole wheat pastry flour and they turned out great. They are certainly wonderful made with white flour and you could use some of each. In the old days, these noodles were dried first and I’ve done that before, but in these days of being careful with raw eggs, I feel better just cooking them right away. The noodles (or the broth for that matter) could be made ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator. You do not need a noodle cutter to make these, but it does make it easier. You could just cut them with a knife. After cutting, pull the noodles apart. I have found the noodle cutter at a kitchen store marketed as a herb mincer. I bet the cost of the ingredients for these noodles is less than $1. I consider the broth to be free since most people throw away the bones anyway.

If you want to take your broth to the next level, nutritionally speaking, you could make bone broth. Find instructions here. I just finished making my first batch of bone broth today.

I may sound simple or even bland but with a good stock this is a very filling, satisfying comfort food. You can’t beat the value!